Cat hides in baggage gets a free holiday

Cat hides in baggage gets a free holiday

Security thought the cat was a turkey! This is a terrible breach of security! What if it was a terrorist cat designed to excape during flight and
attack the pilot?

A New Brunswick woman is wondering how she made it through Saint John Airport security and all the way to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., with a live cat
in her suitcase.

Mary Martell discovered Ginger, the family pet, in her luggage after a two-hour plane ride to Toronto and an hour's drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake. The
cat apparently snuck into a bag while Martell was packing.

Martell said her bag was scanned at the airport, but she was not stopped.

"They had asked me, when they put … the luggage through the X-ray, whether I had a turkey," Martell said.

"[Security] kept going back and forth with [the suitcase]," Martell said. "I was adamant. 'Look, I have no turkey.'"

The bag was sent on and loaded into the cargo bay of the airplane. Ginger, 3, was discovered when Martell opened her suitcase in her hotel room.

Air Canada agreed to let the cat fly home for free in a proper pet container.